Oticon Rise Hearing Aid Platform to Support Bluetooth Devices

Oticon, a leader in hearing loss technology, recently announced the new RISE Microchip Platform. This is said to “enable high-speed binaural sound processing, 100 times faster than what is now possible with wireless digital sound processing in hearing instruments.” The microchip comes with integrated wireless broadband capabilities so that it can easily connect to other devices.

It’s not WiFi or 3G that they’re talking about. Oticon has developed propriety wireless broadband technology — called EarStream — that “creates a wireless sphere in which two hearing devices can communicate synchronously at hyper-speed.” They also say that hearing instruments with “RISE inside” can connect wirelessly with Bluetooth-enabled devices (like cell phones, PDAs, video game systems, fridges). This way, even people who are hearing impaired can have the handsfree freedom of a Bluetooth conversation.

This new RISE platform should find its way into Oticon’s wide range of hearing devices next month.